Wyoming neighborhood damaged by storm

Terry and Debbie Muellner survey damage Friday afternoon in their Wyoming backyard. The longtime Glen Oak Drive residents lost most of the trees on their property. (Photos by Clint Riese)

Friday morning gusts brought down trees along Glen Oak Drive

Clint RieseNews Editor

Strong winds ripped across Wyoming in the early hours of Friday morning as part of a large storm that dumped several inches of rain.

The Muellners’ rain gauge measures 3 inches.

A high concentration of wind damage took place along Glen Oak Drive as gusts from the southwest blew unimpeded over Ashton Lake. Chain saws buzzed throughout the neighborhood that day, as several consecutive backyards were significantly affected.

“It seems like it just went right straight through here,” Terry Muellner said Friday afternoon.

At 26140 Glen Oak Drive, he and his wife, Debbie Muellner, awoke to chirping from their weather radio just after 3 a.m. They knew a severe thunderstorm watch had been issued for Chisago County but had expected the bulk of the storm to miss, as the county was not under a warning.

Suddenly what seemed a typical thunderstorm turned sinister.

“It was just raining and thundering and all that, but then it was the weird noise,” Debbie Muellner said. “We just knew. I didn’t even look out the window. I just knew something was going on.”

She awoke her daughter and joined her husband in a downstairs living room, while her son and his wife took cover in a closet.

Terry and Debbie Muellner witnessed their backyard be torn apart in a matter of minutes.

Then, as quickly as it came, it was gone. The Muellners’ rain gauge measured exactly 3 inches.

A pine tree from a neighbor’s yard had fallen on the Muellners’ roof, and a tree had crashed into their three-season porch. Most trees in the backyard came down, including several box elders. A giant maple tree that once dominated the front yard had been ripped into shards.

The couple hoped their fragrant plum tree would recover.

“It’s a mess,” Debbie Muellner said. “Out there somewhere I have a flower garden.”

A few houses north of the Muellners, a family cleans up after the storm. Every tree in its back yard had fallen.